Abstract: TThe influence of four postharvest fumigation treatments on fruit quality and antioxidant properties of Angeleno, plum were analyzed using multivariate analysis. The results of one-way analysis of variance showed that chlorine dioxide significantly reduced fruit decay rate as well as total phenols, total flavonoids, antioxidant ability and scavenging capacities against superoxide and hydroxyl radical after 18 days of storage at 20 ℃. In contrast, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) promoted the total phenol, flavonoid and anthocyanin contents of plum fruit, whereas the pulp a* value, hue angle, and color ratio increased significantly in fruit treated with both thymol and ethanol as compared with the control. The correlation analysis indicated that both total phenol and total flavonoid contents of plum were highly correlated (P＜0.01) with antioxidant parameters including total antioxidant activity and scavenging capacities against superoxide, DPPH radical and hydroxyl radical. The results of PLSR and path coefficient analysis showed that decay rate of plums was positively correlated with a* value, whereas hue angle of fruit pulp was positively correlated with hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity.

Key words: plum fruit, postharvest fumigation treatments, fruit quality, antioxidant properties, multivariate analysis